Great information, Linda! Having been an enumerator in 2000, I would add: Also take into account the enumerator or the informant NOT understanding the instructions. Of course, we moderns have it easier, in a way, because we have cars instead of horses, and census staff to do mapping work, etc. But where the rubber meets the road is the enumerator speaking to the informant, the informant answering the questions, and the enumerator correctly noting down that information. Because all of the participants are human, there WILL be errors. Valorie Linda Baker wrote: > > I did not know about the dates folks, and thought you might not either... > > This information came from a genealogy mailing list. How many of us > have failed to read the instructions for searching the census? I know > I've been guilty of just assuming what I see was the truth, and > subsequently, may have dismissed some census, especially those in the > time period previous to 1850, as not being the correct line, because it > didn't fit my preconceived notions of the number of people in that > family. Of course, people being people, these instructions may not > have been totally followed by every > census taker, but it does help to > know about this surprising instruction. > > Here are some details ... <snip>